229 I'I and GOODBYE, HOB COLLINGWOOD ~S, ther t'S, RALPH G. BEAMAN , JAMES Boothwyn, Pennsylvania der the GINAL Logol O. Gist shuffled the cards cluITlsily, hoping to disarm his '( quota­ opponent, Sneaky Pete Redeye. This was the winner-take- all show­ ent was down hand, with deuces wild. red, and COLLA­ 11 Ah 111 jes cut them cards, l\ conunanded Sneaky, taking the deck with one hand. Usi ng a quick motion -- too fast for the assembled crowd to follow -- he moved hi S other hand ove r the fir st. execuHng a quadruple cut that may have involved an extra shuffle. lcted the Ignoring this, Logol picked up the deck slowly. He read the clev­ urther, ll e r ly- a pplie d code on the back of the top card. Maintaining a deadpan :mce-word expression he dealt the cards, one by one. with a long pause after each, tations I) , At the end of the fourth round the cards were: he Spartan Day used Logol O. Gist Sneaky Pete Redeye his fo r­ collacon I Devil I s Bedpo sts Queen Bess (aka Four of Bedposts) Pam Bone-ace Pope Joan ~d the (aka Earl of Cork) (aka Curse of Scotland) sition Old Frizzle Big Casino ether, in Hob Collingwood e 1. (as in n. II Logol had twO" pair, but Sneaky was working on a straight. And the next card, Little Casino, would complete it. His years of con­ . me 7" stant practice seemingly paid off as Logol dealt the bottom card, Grace l s Card, to Sneaky and gave himself Little Casino for a full house. II You low-down rattler, II snarled Sneaky, drawing his gun. A shot! Then another! Logol' s expression did not change as he dropped his smoking gun on the table. His shot had gone through Sneaky I s red eye from which red blood now oozed. But Sneaky! s shot had pierced Logoll s heart. Shame to ruin such a good deck, thought Logol, as he holstered his revolver, scooped up the money, and ambled out. The barmaid turned the cards over for all to see: 230 Logol O. Gist Sneaky Pete Redeye THE HE 4 clubs Q clubs A diamonds J clubs A spade 6 9 diamonds 4 hearts 10 diamonds 2 spades 6 hearts ( Big Casino, Bone-ace, Curse of Scotland, Little Casino, Pam, and A. ROSS Ee Pope Joan are in Webster's Third. The other names appeared in Da­ Morristown vid Parlett's column, On The Cards, in the May 1975 issue of Games On a midnig and Puzzles. ) Ancient boo: As I nodded Very much; II , Tis a gue LETTER LIKES AND DISLIKES I cat The late James Thurber was much addicted to discovering Ah, so well unifying themes in words beginning with a common letter -­ As I saw thE G for him was full of old- fashioned danger s (ghosts, ghouls} Wishing for goblip.s) , whe reas H had more up-to-date hor rors (hoodlums, Any surceal Ah, so fair: hold-ups, hijacker, hippie I heroin). In similar vein, Dmitri Borgmann commented in the May 1968 Word Ways on the large Awa number of sexually immoral or deviant adjectives peglnning with L (lewd, lascivious, leering). Unfortunately, Pepsi- Cola But a fluttel was unaware of such letter connotations when it decided on a Woke in me Pepsi-vs.- Coke taste test; after serving Pepsi in a glas s Shall it end It I Tis a vis marked M and Coke in one marked Q to a panel of tasters I it triumphantly announced that Pepsi was preferred. Irritated, I Tis a pers Coke officials conducted their own taste test -- one in which Tha1 Coke was served in both the M and Q glas sea -- and discovered that the M glass was again preferred. Chicago marketing con­ In a while 1 sultant Steuart H. Britt theorized that Q is disliked because of II 1vfiss, or J the number of unpleasant words that begin with it (quack, quit­ But I had be ter, quake, qualm, queer). In a subsequent test, the Pepsi Very faint '1 glass was labeled L and the Coke glass, S; again Pepsi came Then I was out on top. In view of Dmitri's observation, can one now con­ Nigl: clude that people prefer their soft drinks in a suggestive con­ tainer? In my outer Much in dO"ll It was quiet Was the wo: This, a whl Thi~ Back in cha Yet again tl: I now cried Soon I shall Ah, my hea It' s .